Jihad in the West

Despite the boldness of their recent attacks in Xinjiang, where western China meets Central Asia, Pakistan and India, the Islamic extremists are unlikely to pose a significant threat to the games themselves, which are being held under a massive security cover. Chinese officials say so far there has been no clear evidence to tie the terrorist attacks to known Uighur ethnic separatist groups. Xinjiang has a long history of separatist demands from the Uighurs, who are of Turkic ethnicity and Islamic faith.

The big question is whether there is a new radical Islamic dimension to the restiveness in Xinjiang that China has managed to contain until now. There is growing speculation that the new Islamist elements in Xinjiang might have links to the global jihadi network now entrenched in borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In the past, top Pakistani officials had confirmed the presence of Uighur Islamic extremists training in its border regions along with terrorists from around the world. The scope of jihadi activity against China has been seen as modest, at least until recently.

Meanwhile the Pakistan Prime Minister’s adviser on internal security, Rehman Malik was in Beijing this week briefing the Chinese officials of his government’s efforts to curb the sources of international terrorism on its soil.

Education diplomacy

While India’s HRD Ministry continues to block India’s premier higher education institutions like the IITs and IIMs from setting shop abroad, China has unveiled plans to establish its first university abroad, in Pakistan.

Last week, China and Pakistan signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the Pakistan-China University of Engineering, Science and Technology in Islamabad. A consortium of seven Chinese universities is participating in the project, and is expected to bring its own faculty, curriculum and...